


Bittersweet Sixteen

by TheStoryVerse



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Jim was in a terrifying situation, and Claire's parents left a terrified teen stranded in a storm, and thus this sad thing was born, but my brain started rolling around in the what-ifs, granted they didn't know that, this ends angsty, with a stalkling after him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22842535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStoryVerse/pseuds/TheStoryVerse
Summary: When she gets her prey alone, no one will ever see or hear from the Trollhunter again. Lest they find his rotting bones.
Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez
Comments: 7
Kudos: 89





	Bittersweet Sixteen

“Claire, wait!-” Jim yelled, but she was already moving towards her parents’ car. The wind rushed past, leaves dancing across the vacant entranceway. “Uhhhhh-” Jim flinched violently when his cell phone went off. He jerked it out of his pocket, fumbling it for a moment before he pressed answer.

“Hey, it’s me.” His mom said. The sky rumbled. “I have to stay a little late at the clinic.”

“What?” Jim’s heart shot into his throat. Lightning crashed over his head and he flinched violently, eyes dancing across the sky. His gaze flicked back towards Claire’s rapidly retreating form.

“I know, I know. We’ll still celebrate, I promise.” Jim stifled the scream that was clawing at his throat. “But some knucklehead crashed his vespa, and I have to work up the x-rays. You have your bike. Can you find your way home by yourself?”

Jim’s free hand clenched in his hair, tugging on the strands. He jumped as another crash sounded above him. He glanced up at the rolling clouds and saw a dark wing silhouetted for a moment in a flash of purple lightning. “By myself-!” But his mother had already hung up.

Jim ran for Claire’s car. “Wait, wait!” He called.

Claire’s father slowed down, idling by the sidewalk as Jim raced up to the passenger window, breathing heavily. Mrs. Nuñez glared at Jim but rolled the window down.

Jim laughed awkwardly. He tried for a bright smile, but it came out as a wince. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Nuñez. I was hoping maybe I could catch a ride? Heh..” He kept smiling, glancing at the clouds for a moment, before looking back at them hopefully.

Claire’s parents just stared at him, disapproval radiating from their frowns. An awkward silence filled the air for a moment, only broken by the radio warning residents of possible power outages and flooding from the storm brewing overhead. Claire leaned forward in the seat, mouthing something to Jim that he couldn’t understand, when her mother suddenly started rolling up the window.

“Wait, wait, wait!” He cried as Claire’s father took off down the road. He ran after their car, trying to flag them down. “But it’s my birthday,” he called feebly. A last ditch effort as the car sped away down the road. A flicker of Claire’s apologetic face met his before they were lost in the distant fog.

Jim stood there for a heartbeat, then he flew. He ripped his bike off the rack and slammed his helmet on, calling Toby. “Come on, Tobes.” He begged, bouncing and jittering as his eyes scanned the dark skies. “Pick up. Please, pick up!”

He held his breath for a minute, then- “You’ve reached the Toby phone!” Jim’s breath exploded in one swoop, and he growled at the phone, shaking it violently in his hand. He grit his teeth and tried a second time, but there was no response. He left a message. He had to move.

Jim slipped the phone back in his pocket and took off, frantically scanning around him as thunder and lightning crashed above and the wind picked up, blowing him forward on his bike. He glanced back behind him and his heart stopped. The stalkling rose above the rooftops, framed by lightning, molten eyes trained on him. It dove for Jim and he choked on his gasp.

Jim frantically sped up, dodging wildly as the stalkling made a lunge for him. He took off down a side street. He jumped violently, rocking on his bike as the lamp posts flashed out one by one behind him, chasing him down the street. Jim whipped his bike down another street and made for the bridge.

Jim raced across the bridge, looking over his shoulder as he went, but he couldn’t find any trace of the stalkling. The wind tore at Jim’s face, pulling his clothes and whipping his hair into his eyes. The dust and leaves sent Jim into a coughing fit.

The stalkling screamed and Jim whirled around; its fully extended claws barrelling for his face. Jim braked frantically, trying to dodge. He screamed as the stalkling crashed into him. He scrambled for the handles to cling to but it hauled Jim off his bike and up into the storm.

Jim kicked wildly, trying to dislodge himself from the troll’s grip. The stalkling snarled at him and pumped its wings harder, rising higher into the air. The lightning flashed hot and bright, making all his hair stand on end, the heat nearly searing his skin. Jim tore at his pocket and yanked out his amulet. The magical wave from his armor wasn’t enough to dislodge the troll. He swiped at the creature’s claws with his sword but it held firm with one hand, whipping him around like a ragdoll in the rain.

The stalkling tossed him back and forth as it flew higher and higher, until Jim’s breath began to run out and his head began to spin. “Please let me go.” He gasped. “The air… I can’t… I can’t breathe.” Thunder blasted in his ear and he jerked in the creature’s grip.

Jim’s head was spinning, but he heaved up the last shreds of his energy and thrust his sword into the sky. “If I go,” He cried. “We go!”

A bolt of lightning streaked towards his sword and lanced through him and the stalkling. Jim screamed in time with the stalkling as the electricity wracked his body. The shock blasted him away and the creature tumbled as Jim went shooting across the sky.

He fell with a crash to the forest below.

********

Claire threw her backpack on the table with a growl. Jim hadn’t shown up for school in two days, and she was starting to get worried. She hadn’t seen him since they left their late rehearsal, and his mother was terrified. She said Jim hadn’t even made it home that night.

She toed off her shoes and moved towards the living room where her parents were watching tv. Toby was beside himself at Jake’s disappearance, and had been acting freaky all day. Even he didn’t know what had happened, which freaked Claire out even more.

It wasn’t until Mrs. Lake involved the police and they put out a Missing Persons report for Jim that the apprehension that had building in the back of her mind hit her at full force. Claire had a major panic attack during Mr. Strickler’s class that caused her to be sent to the nurse’s office with a worried Darci trailing after her. Their other classmates weren’t faring much better. Eli was pulling up all kinds of wild theories on where Jim could be that Steve made fun of, while most of the other students were more subdued. Mary was keeping her instagram followers and classmates updated on every bit of news she found, real or fake.

Claire’s head had been reeling in the nurse’s office, as she recalled the stark terror on Jim’s face when her parents drove away over and over again. Jim had known something was going to happen, and now he was missing.

Claire lingered at the doorway nervously, looking at her parents as they sat on the couch, chatting lowly and listening to the news; coffee mugs warming their hands. “Mom?” She called.

Mrs. Nuñez turned to look at Claire, a tight smile on her face. “What is it, dear?” Mr. Nuñez placed his mug gently on the coffee table and glanced at his daughter, brow furrowed as he took Claire’s haggard state.

Claire bit her lip. “I still haven’t heard from Jim since practice, and neither has his mother or his best friend. We were the last people to see him.”

Claire’s mother nodded. She glanced at her husband who met her gaze with weary eyes. “We’ve already spoken to the police and told them everything we know.”

Claire wrapped her arms around herself, chewing on her lower lip. “I know, but, maybe we could-”

“A tragedy has been uncovered today in the forest outside of Arcadia Oaks, just a stone’s throw from the bridge.” Claire’s head jerked to the screen and her parents jolted, turning around.

“The body of Jim Lake, the young boy who went missing on the evening of June 19th, has been recovered in a ravine.”

Claire clapped her hands over her mouth. Mrs. Nuñez’s mug crashed to the floor, staining the rich carpet a deep brown, and her father went rigid. The camera panned away from the newswoman to show a picture of Jim’s body, crumpled and broken among the rocks and leaves, dark red-brown painting his hoodie and the surrounding stones. A desperate cry broke from Claire as the picture returned to the grim newswoman. “Authorities are looking into what happened, but there is no conclusion as of yet whether this was foul play, or a tragic accident.”

Police officers scurried in the background, wading through mud and casing the scene. “The 16 year old student was last seen by a classmate and her parents the night of a rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet at his local high school. His mother claims he answered the phone and was on his way home before suddenly vanishing. The coroner has reported that the boy’s injuries are consistent with a fall from a great height. Authorities say Jim died on impact.”

Mrs. Nuñez let out a gasp, “Oh my-” Claire sank to her knees, arms wrapped tightly around herself. She felt another pair of arms wrap around her but didn’t register them, nor the low, soothing voice near her. “We left him there.” She whispered, rocking back and forth. “We left him there. He was terrified. And we left him there.  _ We left him there. _ ”

The news feed panned over to Jim’s distraught mother but Claire didn’t hear them. Slowly her tears became cries of anguish that wracked her body. Claire held onto her parents’ trembling arms for dear life as she broke down, the tv buzzing in the background.

Claire wept as she lay in bed that night, her parent’s tears mingling with her own. Her mother held her as she cried herself to exhaustion. Her father silently kissed her forehead, then pulled his wife up and into his side. They crossed the room and slowly closed the door behind them with Mrs. Nuñez clinging tight to her husband’s shaky frame. Claire sank down into her pillows, tears still staining her cheeks and tissues littering the floor. As she drifted off she thought she heard Jim’s voice calling her.

_ Claire… Claire Nuñez…  _

**Author's Note:**

> It could definitely do more editing, but I'm tired. Therefore I bid my hideous progeny to go forth.


End file.
